Henderson seeks improved Web site

      The city of Henderson's Web site is about to undergo a face lift.
      In December, the City Council awarded a $50,000 contract to Rockridge Systems Ltd. to improve the aesthetic and practical applications of the site. The upgraded site will allow Internet users to e-mail city officials, find information regarding city departments and officials, access meeting dates, agendas and minutes and locate a variety of other informative resources.
      Rockridge CEO Jonathan Robins said he hopes to create a site that not only helps citizens interact with government, but also allows the city to run more efficiently.
      "Initially, we want to help the city get a very professional image up on the Internet and start providing some additional services that they may not be doing now that are of value to the community," Robins said. "It's going to be an evolutionary process."
      Robins estimated the revised site would debut around the beginning of April, but said much of that depends on how quickly city officials approve the amended blueprint for the site.
      The city's current Web site was constructed internally with each department creating its own Web page. This, in essence, gives the site a very fragmented layout with some department's pages looking significantly different from others and some browser searches leading to dead ends.
      While the site presently lacks continuity, Robins said it does provide a good foundation from which to begin renovations.
      "Although the current Web site isn't some graphically exciting Web site, contentwise I think they've got a good outline," he said. "It's a good starting point. É I was pretty impressed with their effort."
      The primary work to be done on Henderson's Web site will focus on the redesign of the site with preparations made for future upgrades. Rockridge is also refurbishing the city of Las Vegas Web site. But unlike Henderson's site, the majority of work on Las Vegas' site will focus on conducting business transactions -- such as applying for licenses and paying fees -- electronically.
      While the initial phase of Henderson's Web site improvements will not include those capabilities, Robins said the site could easily be upgraded in the future to implement such conveniences.
      "They could -- theoretically -- go on the Internet, see their account, put in their credit card number and pay right there," he said. "And no people got involved; no paper got involved. It was all handled electronically."
      Robins said the availability of such technology can not only benefit government workers, who could do their jobs more efficiently relieved from excess paperwork and other bureaucratic nuisances, but would also free citizens from having to come to City Hall to conduct business.
      "With city- and state-level government, there is so much room for improvement in the way government interfaces with the community -- in business especially," he said. "If anybody has to go down to the city to pick up a form, that's insane. There is no reason anybody should have to get in their car and drive down there. None, as far as I'm concerned, in this day and age. I feel pretty strongly about that."
      Robins said he also wants to create a site that allows Henderson residents to take a more proactive stance on city issues and give citizens a greater understanding on how their city is run. He suggested maps that would show residents how land parcels near their homes are currently zoned and what projects are slated for those lots.
      "I know that in Henderson, growth is a big issue," Robins said. "I would like to see if there is some way the community could see what's going on and participate or give their comments on zoning requests and things.
      "I'm not an expert on government affairs obviously, but É it's not clear what's going on. It would be nice if there were some way to get some information about what is happening in the community that we can understand."
      Robins, a Henderson resident, created Rockridge in his living room just over two years ago after leaving Oracle Corp. His departure from Oracle came after he realized the growing demand for Web sites that allow people to conduct transactions electronically and securely.
      Other major clients of Rockridge -- which specializes in developing custom Web-based business applications for large corporate and government entities -- include GES Exposition Services and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. The company employs eight people and did about $2 million in revenue last year, according to Robins.
      "My understanding is, one of the reasons they selected my firm was because, not only do we do good Web site design, we have kind of become the de facto industry experts at conducting business transactions on the Internet," he said.
      In Robins estimation, it will cost about $30,000 to upgrade the city's Web site. However, an additional $20,000 was approved by the council since finalized specifications for the site will be undetermined until extensive talks between Rockridge and the city have concluded.
      "Just my sense of dealing with the city of Henderson is that they're very well organized," Robins said. "I think they're small enough so they can keep a good visibility on things. I've been very impressed by the way they operate."